NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 33 - Nine O'clock Arrives
The Fat Chef is dead too!
Watching the Fat Chef being lifted onto the black van, He Gu felt a heavy burden on his heart.
First, it was the Dormitory Supervisor, and now the Fat Chef…
All those who had helped He Gu had died.
He Gu understood that this was because “it” was getting desperate.
And the more desperate “it” was, the closer he was to clearing the World of Strange Tales.
He Gu took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.
After the Fat Chef was loaded onto the vehicle, several workers wearing red work uniforms quickly came out of the canteen and hung a “Closed” sign on the door.
The canteen was closed.
Reflected in the tightly shut glass door of the canteen, He Gu saw his own face, bruised, with hollow cheeks and eye sockets, and a ghastly pallor.
With the canteen closed, He Gu couldn’t get any meat, and there would be no way to heal his zombie-like body.
He Gu knew that he didn’t have much time left.
Either he cleared the game and left soon, or he would die here before long.
This gave him a sense of anxiety.
Seeing that he couldn’t eat in the canteen, He Gu turned around and returned to his dorm.
In the dormitory, Xiao Ying was sitting on her bed playing on her phone, occasionally glancing at He Gu.
On He Gu’s bedside, the completely “red” parrot stood quietly in its cage, tilting its head to look at He Gu, its black eyes gleaming with a bizarre light.
However, He Gu seemed oblivious to all of this, just sitting on his bed, holding his phone and spacing out.
Time ticked by, and the sky outside had completely darkened.
At this moment, He Gu’s phone suddenly vibrated.
A call from an unfamiliar number.
He answered the call, and immediately a strange male voice came from the receiver: “Hello, are you He Gu?”
He Gu responded, “Yes, that’s me.”
The other party continued, “I am Zhou Ming from the Kangde Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory Logistics Department. The HR department asked us to take you back after we finish the delivery. You should have received the notice, right?”
“We are almost done here, please wait for us at the school gate at nine o’clock…”
Before the other party could finish speaking, He Gu hung up the phone.
At that moment, He Gu glanced at the time and realized it was already eight o’clock in the evening.
He Gu immediately jumped off the bed and walked out of the dormitory.
He went to the door of Dormitory 303 next door and knocked heavily a few times.
There was silence inside, no response at all. Was Wang Tao not there?
He Gu knocked a few more times, but there was still no response.
Out of options, He Gu hurriedly went downstairs and looked around the sports field, but he still couldn’t find Wang Tao.
Could it be that Wang Tao never returned after sleepwalking during the day?
He Gu was a little anxious, but he didn’t have time to think more about it, and headed towards the store.
Perhaps because he was traumatized by the black cat during the day, He Gu deliberately took a longer route this time, bypassing the small grove.
Soon, He Gu arrived at the store.
Just like before, He Gu carefully checked that he did not have any parrot feathers on him, then peered into the store. Seeing that the person standing behind the cashier counter was wearing a white work uniform, he walked in with relief.
“Welcome.”
The clerk called out without lifting his head.
He Gu walked straight into the store and noticed an additional worker wearing orange work uniform in the corner, arranging the goods on the shelves.
The worker glanced at He Gu, suddenly stopped what he was doing, and just stared at He Gu.
He Gu took a deep breath, ignored the worker, and walked straight towards the shelf where the “Delicious Dried Meat” sign was in his memory.
This time, the shelf was finally not empty.
He Gu saw a package of palm-sized dried meat on the shelf, just one package.
Just as He Gu had taken this packet of Delicious Dried Meat from the shelf, the store clerk in the orange uniform suddenly put down what he was holding and quickly walked towards He Gu.
He Gu’s heart tightened, and he quickly turned around and headed towards the cashier’s counter.
And the store clerk in the orange uniform quickly caught up with him, standing beside He Gu and staring at him with a pair of wide eyes.
The first rule of the Store was: there is no “Delicious Dried Meat” for sale in the Store. If you see it on the shelf, please hand it over to the clerk in the orange Work Uniform immediately;
Clearly, this clerk in the orange uniform wanted He Gu to give him this packet of “Delicious Dried Meat”.
Of course, He Gu had already determined that this rule was incorrect, so naturally he wouldn’t give the meat to him.
Regardless of the clerk staring at him so intensely that his eyes were almost bulging out, He Gu still put the packet of “Delicious Dried Meat” on the counter and paid for it.
After paying, He Gu, unwilling to give up, asked, “Do you still have Tasty Minced Beef? My roommate asked me to bring him a packet.”
The clerk behind the cashier’s counter, without raising his head, said harshly, “Each person can only purchase one of this product. You have already purchased it, and you cannot purchase it for others.”
Helpless, He Gu had to turn around and leave.
Perhaps the experience of the afternoon had left a shadow on He Gu.
As soon as he left the store, He Gu didn’t pause for a moment and ran straight back.
As when he came, He Gu chose to take a longer route, not passing through the small grove.
About ten minutes later, He Gu returned to his dormitory.
At this time, it was already 20:37.
As soon as he returned to his dormitory, He Gu noticed something was wrong.
Xiao Ying had again returned to her disheveled appearance, with half her face covered by her hair, giving off a eerie feeling.
And the parrot in the cage, upon seeing He Gu, suddenly flapped its wings and let out a hoarse laugh, “Hehehe…”
Both Xiao Ying’s appearance and the parrot’s seemingly mocking laughter made He Gu’s scalp tingle.
He Gu simply moved the parrot outside the door in advance, then climbed into bed and waited quietly.
Time passed second by second, and it was getting closer to nine o’clock in the evening.
…
Earth.
At this time, the live broadcast rooms of the Strange Tales in Dragon Nation, Ross Nation, and Austra Nation were bustling with excitement.
Since only the contestants from these three countries were still alive in this Instance, and it seemed to have reached a critical moment, almost all viewers around the globe were paying attention to the situations in these three live broadcast rooms.
“According to the information obtained by the player from Dragon Nation, the person who is coming to pick them up tonight is a fake. However, the players from Ross Nation and Austra Nation don’t know this. It seems that soon only the player from Dragon Nation will be left in this Instance.”
“Darn it! What is the National Strange Tales Incident Response Office doing! Quickly use the hint information to notify Ivanov!”
“The opportunity to provide hints has already been used up. Ivanov is already waiting at the school gate. It seems that our Ross Nation will soon be invaded by bizarre events…”
“Oh God, Klaus has also gone to the school gate. Are we just going to watch him walk into death with our eyes wide open!”
…
At this time, out of the three countries where the contestants were still alive, only the audience from Dragon Nation seemed calm.
People in Ross Nation and Austra Nation were almost going crazy.
Everyone learned from Dragon Nation’s live broadcast room that the person coming to pick up the contestants tonight was a fake.
But their contestants didn’t know anything about it, and they hadn’t even discovered the “correct usage of the parrot”.
Amid the wailing in the barrage of the live broadcast room, nine o’clock arrived…